TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (TRIANGLE OF SADNESS)

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What is it about Scandinavian filmmakers and their desire to provoke?

Lars Von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg and Joachim Trier have all made confrontational films that tackle difficult subjects.

Their films tend to be stylistically daring, eschewing traditional narrative structures set by Hollywood.

And the same is true about Sweden's Reuben Ostlund into that category.

© Lionsgate UK, ZDF/ARTE, ARTE France, BBC Film, Sveriges Television

Known internationally for his 2014 and 2017 satirical black comedies, 'Force Majeure' and 'The Square,' he isn't afraid to poke and prod his audiences, often taking them out of their comfort zones.

'The Square,' after all, featured a performance artist roaming around a fancy dinner and humiliating guests by pretending to be an ape.

His sixth feature is 'Triangle of Sadness' - a withering look at the super wealthy and the 21st Century fixation with image over substance.

And for its troubles, Ostlund's movie has landed three Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay and walked away with the Palme d'Or last year at Cannes.

© Lionsgate UK, ZDF/ARTE, ARTE France, BBC Film, Sveriges Television

'Triangle of Sadness' is a typically in your face affair from Ostlund.

Dutifully following a rigid three act structure, the first act focuses on the relationship between Harris Dickinson's male model Carl and Charlbi Dean's much more successful catwalk model and social media influencer Yaya.

After attending an awkward casting session for male models, we see Carl taking Yaya out.

As events unfold, we become increasingly aware of Carl's growing unease at Yaya's expectation that he will always pick up the bill.

© Lionsgate UK, ZDF/ARTE, ARTE France, BBC Film, Sveriges Television

An argument erupts and quickly balloons into a broader row about their expectations of their relationship.

It is resolved by Carl placating Yaya by booking them a holiday on a cruise.

This leads to the second act on a cruise ship packed with obscenely wealthy people - many of whom aren't afraid to boast about and flash their cash.

The cruise guests include Zlatko Buric's grotesque Russian oligarch Dimitry and his wife Sunnyi Melles' Vera, Henrik Dorson's lonely tech millionaire Jarmo, Iris Berben's German Therese who is confined to a wheelchair after suffering a stroke and Amanda Walker and Oliver Ford Davies' elderly English couple Clementine and Winstone who have made their fortune selling hand grenades.

© Lionsgate UK, ZDF/ARTE, ARTE France, BBC Film, Sveriges Television

Supervising the crew is Vicki Berlin's Paula while the ship's captain, played by Woody Harrelson, seems pretty detached and disinterested in everyone around him.

When things go awry on the voyage, the class structure is thrown into turmoil.

And it is at that point that Dolly De Leon's cleaner Abigail really starts to come into her own.

Without spoiling what happens, suffice it to say the writer director puts his characters through all manner of indignities.

© Lionsgate UK, ZDF/ARTE, ARTE France, BBC Film, Sveriges Television

Although that's probably sugarcoating it.

The second act simply spirals into a scenario that is so over the top and stomach churning, some audiences may find it all a bit much.

But here's a weird thing because after getting off to a lacklustre start in the first act and delivering a heavy handed second act, the film eventually finds its feet.

Ostlund delivers a pretty satisfying final act.

It just takes a lot of effort to get there.

© Lionsgate UK, ZDF/ARTE, ARTE France, BBC Film, Sveriges Television

Much of the success of the final act is down to De Leon who has reason to feel unlucky not to land a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination.

The Filipino actress delivers a performance of steel, wit and guile. 

As for the rest of the cast, they mostly indulge Ostlund's worst excesses.

And it is this heavy handedness that ultimately prevents 'Triangle of Sadness' from achieving greatness.

© Lionsgate UK, ZDF/ARTE, ARTE France, BBC Film, Sveriges Television

Plenty of filmmakers like Robert Altman or Federico Fellini have been pretty good at skewering contemporary values by keeping the shock tactics under control.

Other screenwriters have been much more effective in exposing the ruthlessness, greed and detachment of the super rich.

HBO's 'Succession' is a great example of how to do this and do it very well.

Unfortunately 'Triangle of Sadness' comes nowhere near that series' quality.

© Lionsgate UK, ZDF/ARTE, ARTE France, BBC Film, Sveriges Television

Like a lot of Ostlund's work 'Triangle of Sadness' is a bit of a marmite experience.

Ostlund fans will adore it.

The rest of us will find it overblown, too eager to shock and too easy in the way it takes its potshots.

While the film undoubtedly looks handsome thanks to Frederik Wenzel's cinematography, it ultimately feels as empty as the people it's targeting.

And that makes its Palme d'Or win and Oscar nomination recognition all the more surprising. 

('Triangle of Sadness' was released in UK and Irish cinemas on October 28, 2022)

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